LONGMONT -- It all started when Melissa Weisner's eldest son requested a rock-themed party for his sixth birthday.

To entertain the guests, the self-proclaimed "mompreneur" created a simple bingo-like game with rocks. It was a hit with her son and his friends.

"I started thinking, 'Wow, maybe I should do something with that,' " she said.

So she began developing a more portable version of the game, and earlier this year, the 54-year-old Longmont mother of four starting selling her geology board game, "Rock On!"

Since May, Weisner said, she has sold "hundreds" of games in the U.S., Canada and Germany through Amazon.com. Every time the game ships to a new state, she and her sons color in that state on a U.S. map. As of last week, they were missing only 11 states.

Right now, "Rock On!" is listed as the No. 1 geology game on Amazon.com. It is also available on Etsy.com and is being sold at the Red Rose Rock Shop, 490 Moraine Ave., in Estes Park. The game retails for $25, plus shipping.

The hope is the game, geared toward children ages 5 and up, fosters a love of learning and geology, Weisner said.

"We want them to have a really strong connection to nature," said Weisner, who has a background in corporate communications.

To understand the rules of the game, think bingo with rocks taking the place of the numbers. Using polished stones, up to six players mark pictures of rocks on player cards as rock cards are drawn. Each card includes facts about a rock specimen, and the game also comes with golf ball-sized samples of the 18 featured rocks. Whoever gets five rocks in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row on the card and is the first to yell "Rock on!" is the winner.

"Rock On!" is recommended for children ages 5 and older. (Courtesy photo)

When Weisner's triplets -- August, Harrison and Satchel Falborn, now 7 -- were in first grade last year at Longmont's Blue Mountain Elementary School, each of their classes played the game. It dovetailed nicely with the class' science unit on rocks, said first-grade teacher Stephanie Holladay, adding that she "can't wait" to use the game again this spring.

Laura Lindquist, a Longmont mother-of-three who blogs at monkeysonmyback.com, reviewed the game after Weisner's son gave it to her daughter, Jada, for her birthday last year. Jada, now 8, still plays with the game, Lindquist said.

"One of the reasons I like it is that it's interactive, and they don't realize that they're actually learning," Lindquist said. "And they're learning something without using an iPad. They're not starting at a computer screen. ... It's just pure and simple."

Wyatt Falborn, Weisner's eldest son -- the one who spurred the whole idea -- is also a fan of the game. The 9-year-old has a rock collection of more than 400 stones.

"It's very cool," he said. "And I like how we can learn more about rocks through her game."

Weisner and her four sons collect the white quartz and sandstone pieces for the game from the family's 50-acre sheep ranch west of Longmont.

At the beginning of a recent expedition to find the rocks, Weisner quizzed her sons on what to look for in quartz.

Because she wanted to foster a love of learning and geology in her children, Longmont's Melissa Weisner created a geology board game. Here she inspects rocks with sons August Falborn, 7, right, and Wyatt Falborn, 9, who inspired "Rock On!" (Greg Lindstrom/For the Camera)

"It's supposed to look like milk," called back one of the triplets, Satchel.

Weisner inspected the specimens her sons dug out of the muddy ground. With larger chunks, she chips them into manageable pieces before washing and tumbling them.

"How about this?" asked another of the triplets, August, holding out a slab of quartz.

"Oh, that's perfect," Weisner said, prompting her son to drop the quartz into a metal bucket with a satisfying thunk.

"They're my little helpers," she said with a grin as the boys ran off.

Weisner said she's already working on a second edition of "Rock On!" She plans to incorporate a question-and-answer element to make the game more challenging.

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